Time is Short: Stopping Trains

Time is Short: Stopping Trains

     by Norris Thomlinson / Deep Green Resistance Hawai’i

Puget Sound Anarchists and It’s Going Down have reported on four recent incidents of simple sabotage against rail operations. Using copper wire to signal track blockage (as depicted in a video on how to block trains), actionists have executed cheap and low-risk attacks to temporarily halt:

The Decisive Ecological Warfare strategy of Deep Green Resistance aims for cascading systems failure to shut down industrial destruction for good. Though these acts of sabotage are unlikely to cause more than minor inefficiencies in rail transport, they offer more return on investment than even the most successful aboveground actions.

For example, last year three DGR members halted a coal train for 12 hours before being arrested. Compared to other aboveground efforts, this was a very efficient operation, achieving a lengthy stoppage with a minimum of arrests. However, the total cost to carry out the action was high. Not only did the three activists spend significant time planning and executing the blockade itself, but a support team ensured rail employees and police couldn’t harm the activists without being documented (though this by no means guaranteed their safety.) Afterwards, the three arrestees faced multiple court dates consuming time and money, and causing stress. All charges were eventually dropped, but presumably the state would be less lenient for recidivism, raising the cost for repeated use of this tactic.

Contrast that to the statement by the Columbia River track saboteurs: “Trains were stopped for at least several hours and maybe more. Carrying out the action took less than an hour, about $40 materials, and little-no risk of being arrested.” (Presumably they also spent time beforehand to scout and plan.) Their use of underground tactics allowed them to hit and run, minimizing their risk, stress, and total investment in the action, and leaving them free to repeat the attacks at will. Not sticking around to be arrested is an enormous advantage, and our resistance movement must increase its use of guerrilla tactics to leverage our relatively meager resources.

DGR members don’t have the option of using underground tactics. By publicly opposing industrial civilization and calling for physically dismantling it, we’re obvious suspects for law enforcement to monitor and interrogate following underground attacks. Our role is to spread the analysis of the necessity and the feasibility of bringing it all down, and to support anyone who is able to carry out underground attacks.

We commend and thank those involved in these recent successful actions. We hope they’ll use the skills and confidence they’ve built in a low-risk environment to escalate their attacks to critical industrial infrastructure. And we hope none of them ever get caught, but if they do, we’ll be there to support them.

Analysis of Efficacy

On an Earth First! Journal page hosting the video on how to block trains, two commenters suggest this tactic isn’t effective at all:

“Lol if theres no reason a train should have a red signal, the dispatcher will have a crew sent out to find the problem, and in the mean time simply give trains authority past it. Try again.”

“Railroads have signal maintainers on duty 24/7/365 to troubleshoot issues like track circuits and keep trains moving on any given operating subdivision. I guess what you don’t understand is regardless of what you’re jumpering out there, trains can still move down the line.”

The posts are anonymous, and the authors express contempt for the actions of the saboteurs. Since they’re clearly not trying to give constructive feedback, it’s hard to know how seriously to take the critiques. If anyone has concrete knowledge of the impact of this tactic, please share. The better we understand the systems we want to disrupt and dismantle, the better our chance of success.

Read about more attacks on rail and other infrastructure at our Underground Action Calendar

To repost this or other DGR original writings, please contact newsservice@deepgreenresistance.org

DGR Oregon Hosts Eugene Open House

DGR Oregon Hosts Eugene Open House

     by Erin Moberg / Deep Green Resistance Eugene

On Wednesday night, DGR Oregon members hosted an Open House for all activists and community members interested in meeting active DGR members, sharing a meal, talking politics and activism, and learning how to get (more) involved. Our goal was twofold: (1) to continue our work to normalize and demystify direct action as a viable and necessary offensive strategy to fight back against the culture of empire and (2) to publicize and register guests for our upcoming Advanced Direct Action Training over Earth Day Weekend (April 21-23) outside of Eugene.

For other DGR chapters and members interested in hosting a similar event, here are some reflections on what worked well and what we’d do differently next time:

  • Hold open house in a central, public space. We reserved a free, local community meeting space, rather than holding the open house at one of our houses.
  • Require RSVPs for event location details. This way, you can vet interested individuals and activist groups, and (ideally) have an approximate head count, ahead of time.
  • Provide snacks and drinks, rather than a full meal. We put together an impressive and delicious potluck spread for guests, including lamb stew, several salads, Mexican casserole, and chocolate brownies! While it was well-appreciated by those who attended, in hindsight the time it took to prepare and transport the food and drinks could have been better spent on more impactful DGR-related work.
  • Make one-on-one connections with guests. As activists, we know that a significant barrier to leaving our comfort zones and exploring radical activism is the fear of social/community ostracization and isolation. By holding an open house, we were able to meet people individually and face-to-face and form personal, human connections before transitioning into the heavier content of radical environmentalism, radical feminism, direct action, etc.
  • Provide DGR reading materials. We set up our typical tabling display for guests to explore, including a trifold display about DEW, copies of Deep Green Resistance, and pamphlets on DGR, feminism, indigenous communities, the people of color caucus, and more.
  • Include an informative visual presentation and member introductions. We welcomed guests with a slideshow playing on a loop; it included photos of past DGR actions, members, and messaging, as well as some relevant videos. After sharing a meal, the organizers introduced ourselves and reflected individually about our interests and involvement in DGR. This was an opportunity for us to speak to: DGR history, strategy, local chapter focus, and upcoming events. This brief presentation also helped to personalize DGR and debunk any circulating myths about DGR as an underground, or anarchist, or specifically pro-violence movement.
  • Be prepared to intervene if a (male) individual coopts the conversation or event. It’s important to model for activists new to DGR what a feminist-informed discussion and space look and feel like. Even though it can be uncomfortable, decide ahead of time who the unofficial “moderator” will be if the conversation is derailed or becomes tense or aggressive, and especially in the case of misogynist or racist behavior or statements. Don’t leave it up to the women to assume this role (unless we volunteer in the first place)!
  • Expect no-shows. By the day of the open house, we had around 30 RSVPs, which was a much higher number than we’d anticipated! However, only 9 guests actually showed up, so we spent a lot of time preparing way too much food and materials.
  • Follow-up with guests as soon as possible. Make sure that all guests sign in, and make plans to follow up with guests individually soon after the event.

Our open house was productive in that we met and had conversations with several people who plan to attend our direct action training next month.  Several guests asked thoughtful questions, offered informed opinions, and were very appreciative of the work we do as activists. The event also helped to foster community building within DGR Oregon itself, especially for new DGR members. On the whole, however, we agree that we could have spent less collective time organizing this event in order to dedicate more time to other activist work with a (potentially) more immediate impact in our community or in halting the destruction of the planet.

Burns Paiute Make First Visit After Armed Takeover of Malheur Refuge

On Monday, February 29, nearly two months after armed militants took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the Burns Paiute Tribe was finally allowed to visit it. The refuge is their ancient wintering grounds and filled with culturally-sensitive sites and even burial grounds of their ancestors. On Thursday, 14 more militia members were arrested, including two more members of the Bundy family who led the armed standoffs in Oregon and Nevada against federal authorities.

“I’m glad they cleaned up all those urinals they made,” Burns Paiute tribal councilman Jarvis Kennedy told ICTMN. “They went in with Hazmat suits on and got all of that out of there and covered it up. When I first saw it kind of made me mad. That’s our burial ground area.”

RELATED: ‘It’s So Disgusting’ Malheur Militia Dug Latrine Trenches Among Sacred Artifacts

The 178,000-acre refuge was once part of the Malheur Indian Reservation that was the homeland of Northern Paiute tribes like Wadatika, the name Burns Paiute people called themselves after small seeds they harvested along Malheur and Harney Lakes.

Kennedy said he couldn’t get into specific details as to how the federal authorities are going to proceed with cleanup. The painful process will proceed to remove a road the occupiers constructed, as well as three different trenches they dug where they dumped trash and human feces. The FBI had reported last month that one of these trenches was close to culturally-sensitive sites on the refuge. The tribe received a plan from the archaeologist for assessment of damage and loss of cultural artifacts and sites.

“I think they got a case against them,” Kennedy told ICTMN. “[The militants] were dumb enough to make a video of themselves making the road and digging. They also left fingerprints on the controls of the heavy equipment they operated.”

On Wednesday, the Burns Paiute Tribal council met with Bureau of Indian Affairs regional director, Stanley Speaks in Portland. He assured them that the BIA would offer assistance for expenses the tribe had incurred for extra law enforcement patrols and for the aftermath. The tribe provided full 24-hour police coverage for their community during the 41-day occupation of the refuge.

“The Chief of Police of Warm Springs Reservation sent us two officers to help us, then two more,” Kennedy explained. “They were each on a five-day shift.”

While in Portland, the tribal leaders also met with the U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch who thanked the tribe for all their support during the occupation. She also thanked the people of Burns and Harney County “who had to endure an occupation of their town.”

Tribal members and townspeople faced harassment and threats from the armed occupiers who invaded their community. Native men were a particular target in town. Tribal leaders, local law enforcement and Fish and Wildlife employees all reported out-of-state vehicles driving slowly by their homes at night and had their families threatened. Fish and Wildlife staff were all sent away during the occupation for their safety and have only just returned.

Kennedy says there is still a lot of animosity, especially from businesses in the town of Burns that were backing the occupation. The local Verizon franchise owner had her truck plastered with stickers supporting the militants. She took the stickers off after the Verizon corporate office demanded she do so, but tribal members are still boycotting her business.

Another local business owner, an optometrist, who was an outspoken supporter of Bundy and his followers has also lost tribal business. The tribe is “hurting them in the wallet,” Kennedy says.

However, the occupation also brought out their supporters in the community and the tribe discovered they had many allies they could count on when it really mattered.

“It’s good to have allies on our side,” says Kennedy. “We have to work with the town. We are a sovereign nation and we believe in having a good neighbor policy.”

On Thursday, the FBI arrested 14 more militants, including two more Bundy brothers, who join their father Cliven Bundy and brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy in jail. Also arrested was Jerry DeLemus, a co-chair of New Hampshire’s committee to elect Trump, the Republican presidential frontrunner.

All 14 were charged with armed assault against federal law enforcement officers during the 2014 standoff in Nevada when an armed group of supporters of Cliven Bundy successfully forced the Bureau of Land Management to stop removal of Cliven’s cattle from federal land. The rancher had over copy million in unpaid grazing fees to the federal government.

Also on Thursday, Ammon Bundy the leader of the takeover at Malheur, released a video from jail in Portland, Oregon. He says he’s not ashamed and doesn’t regret what he did because he knew “it was right.”

Since his arrest, Ammon has tried to recast the armed occupation as an act of free speech and played down the guns he and his followers brandished. In interviews and on social media the militants claimed they were willing to die to return federal land to “the original owners”—ranchers, miners and loggers. In his recent video, he termed the 41-day takeover “a demonstration.” Malheur and the BLM grazing land the Bundys use in Nevada are both unceded territories belonging to the Paiute and Shoshone peoples.

“They are in jail,” Councilman Kennedy said about Ammon and his followers, “It’s like we said at our first press conference when this all started. We were here first before they came here and we are going to be here after they are all gone. They are all gone and we now have to deal with that mess.”

Meanwhile back at the refuge, tundra and trumpeter swans, northern pintails, red-winged blackbirds, and sandhill cranes have all been seen. Over 320 species call the refuge home either for short stopovers as they head north or for nesting. Friends of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Facebook page shared a photo of arriving swans saying, “Normalcy rests on the wings of these birds and is exactly what those of us who live here and everyone that has made Malheur a part of their lives have needed.”

Malheur and the Land Seizure Agenda

By Wildlands Defense

Two months have gone by in a blur since the Bundy Militant Seizure of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge was taken under the cover of cowboy hats. Public lands ranchers have always been at the front of western land grab efforts, as Bernard DeVoto described.

Malheur brought unsavory players engaged in a medusa-headed effort to seize control of public lands into full public view. Proliferating militias, “constitutional sheriffs,” and various crackpot lecturers were suddenly out in public view, all on board with the land privatization agenda.

WLD’s Natalie Ertz and Kate Fite traveled to Malheur to join a Protest opposing the Bundy Seizure. We hiked on the Refuge, where Militants “on patrol” attempted to intimidate us. We met up with the Center for Biological Diversity folks who had been at Malheur for many days, and several other Boise people who came out for the event. (3rd video)

We had the privilege to speak with leaders of the Burns-Paiute Tribe. We witnessed a surreal Militant ceremony where New Mexico rancher Adrian Sewell renounced his grazing permit. At the end of this, Pete Santilli tried to incite an armed crowd against an environmentalist by claiming he was an FBI agent.

Just as we returned home, we learned of a Land Seizure Conference in Boise only a few days away – “Storm Over Rangelands”, with Kanosh Utah attorney Todd MacFarlane, a member of the militia-like Harney County Committee of Safety, and others.

We worked to organize a Protest march, and documented the
conference, which preached there is no such thing as public land – grazing on BLM land establishes a “right” for the cattlemen, so the land is no longer public.

Members of the Bundy Cowliphate have now been arrested. But the Land Seizure movement remains in high gear. The fight to protect public lands is now more important than ever. At least three Bills have been introduced in the Congress to give states control of federal lands.

Cottonwood creek – Owyhee Field Office, Idaho BLM. Monitoring cage illustrates typical degree of forage removed by livestock that would otherwise stabilize stream-banks, purify water, and be available to wildlife. (Photo: Brian Ertz)

Cottonwood creek – Owyhee Field Office, Idaho BLM. Monitoring cage illustrates typical degree of forage removed by livestock that would otherwise stabilize stream-banks, purify water, and be available to wildlife. (Photo: Brian Ertz)

There are myriad other efforts chipping away at public lands and public lands protections in Congress and state Legislatures across the West.

This is a very important time in the fight to protect wild lands and wildlife in the west. Please support our frontline efforts to protect public lands.

Bundy Militia Musters Again Over Paiute Land

Featured Image: A view of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, where self-styled “militia men” are declaring a takeover of refuge headquarters. Claudio Del Luongo/Shutterstock

Some of the same armed “militia” involved in the Cliven Bundy affair in Nevada have occupied federal land in Oregon formerly reserved for the Northern Paiute. Ironically, the “legal” basis for starting a fight with the federal government is that sovereignty “really” belongs to Oregon rather than the Paiutes, who have seen their federal trust land shrink from over one and a half million acres to a tiny remnant of 760 acres in Burns, Oregon, where this current armed standoff began.

Cliven Bundy is a Nevada rancher who engaged in an armed standoff with the federal government in 2014 when some of his cattle were seized over 20 years of unpaid grazing fees.  “Militia members” and “patriots” from all the western states and phototropic politicians from as far away as Arizona joined Bundy.  Video at the time showed “militiamen” taking aim at federal officers, and the authorities decided a bloodbath over grazing fees was not sensible. When the federal agents stood down, the militias declared a major victory.

This Saturday, January 2, the war over federal authority continued when an unknown number of militia members seized a building in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and Ammon Bundy—Cliven Bundy’s son—released a video urging like thinking people to arm themselves and come to Oregon, declaring, “We’re going to be staying for several years.”

The “militiamen” claimed the occupation of the empty building was accomplished by 150 armed men. The armed occupation of Malheur Wildlife Refuge grew out of demonstrations over the impending deadline for Steven Hammond, 46, and his father Dwight Hammond, Jr., 73, to report to federal custody to begin serving five years in prison each for arson on public lands.

At the Hammonds’ trial, the government argued that the fires were set to cover up evidence of poaching activities. The Hammonds did not deny setting the fires but claimed their purpose was to destroy invasive species.

In the 2014 standoff, Cliven Bundy claimed that federal agents had no authority in Nevada. He now claims the same of Oregon, stating Saturday, “United States Justice Department has NO jurisdiction or authority within the State of Oregon.”

If anything is clear-cut about Indians in the Constitution, it is that relations with Indian nations are a federal responsibility. Carrying out that responsibility in Oregon, President U.S. Grant established the Malheur Indian Reservation for the Northern Paiute in 1872. It is no coincidence that the historical reservation shares a name with the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, site of the current armed standoff.

White settlement nibbled at the Malheur Indian Reservation until the Bannock War in 1878, which ended with surrendered Paiutes and Bannocks on the reservation being removed, officially to the Yakama Reservation in Washington Territory.  Unofficially, Paiutes had scattered all over the Western States that comprised their aboriginal lands. The Burns Paiute Reservation is the remains of the Malheur Reservation and the Malheur Wildlife Refuge is an alternative use for the federal land, for those who believe the federal government exists.

As in Nevada, the Bundys claim the only lawful authority in the area is the Harney County Sheriff David Ward, who they have petitioned to take the Hammonds into “protective custody” from the U.S. Marshal.

In a video posted on YouTube, Ammon Bundy said, “This is a time to stand up.” Willamette Week reported that militia members have been arriving in Burns, Oregon, for weeks.

Jon Ritzheimer made a farewell video for his family before heading out to fight with the “oppressive, tyrannical” federal government and posted it on YouTube. If he were not promising to “die a free man,” his rant about the Constitution would be humorous. While he would fail my constitutional law course, his, ahem, unusual reading of the document loses some humor value when he offers it as a reason to “lay my life down to fight against tyranny,” tyranny put in place by “kids who never got their hands dirty who went off to college” and came back thinking they know as much about land management as farmers.

Ammon Bundy claims on video to be doing God’s work and says of the 2014 standoff, “because people came, we are free.” He also claims that the U.S. Attorney threatened to get the Hammonds assigned to “a less desirable prison” if they kept consulting with the militia and that would be “a death sentence.”  Urging people to join in, he referred to the occupation of the Wildlife Refuge as, “This wonderful thing that the Lord is about to accomplish.”

The Oregonian reported that one of the occupiers is Ryan Payne, an army veteran who claimed to have organized snipers to target federal agents during the 2014 standoff at the Bundy ranch in Nevada.

Another veteran of the Bundy standoff, Blaine Cooper, told The Oregonian, “I went there to defend Cliven with my life.”

Oregonian coverage was up to date as of early January 3, and included this statement on the situation from Harney County Sheriff David Ward:

After the peaceful rally was completed today, a group of outside militants drove to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, where they seized and occupied the refuge headquarters. A collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution. For the time being please stay away from that area. More information will be provided as it becomes available. Please maintain a peaceful and united front and allow us to work through this situation.

According to reporting by the Associated Press, the Hammonds are not as quick to advocate shooting at federal officers as Cliven Bundy. The AP quoted a letter from the Hammond family lawyer, W. Alan Schroeder, to Sheriff Ward: “Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond family.” Dwight Hammond himself told the AP that he and his father intend to turn themselves in on January 4 as ordered. “We gave our word that’s what we would do, and we intend to act on it.”

While state and federal law enforcement agencies discussed how to end the occupation without bloodshed, Cliven Bundy from his Nevada ranch and the occupiers in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge used social media to call for supporters to come to Oregon. And come armed.